The external committee tasked with improving governance at Nissan Motor believes the Japanese automaker can deepen ties with Renault without overhauling the broader alliance agreed nearly 20 years ago, a Reuters source said.

The British born chief operating officer of Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC), Trevor Mann, is to leave the automaker on 31 March, according to a press statement, and will be replaced by Ashwani Gupta.

Ousted Nissan Motor chairman Carlos Ghosn was finally released from a Japanese jail on Wednesday (6 March) after posting US$9m in bail granted earlier by the Tokyo District Court. His defence lawyers had assured the court Ghosn would submit to extensive surveillance as well as posting a JPY1bn surety.

Domestic sales by South Korea's five largest automakers declined by 1.1% to 104,307 units in February from 105,432 units in the same month of last year, according to preliminary data released individually by the vehicle manufacturers.

Renault has published full-year results that show a substantial fall to operating margin and net income in 2018. The results come as uncertainty swirls over the company's alliance with Nissan as former CEO Carlos Ghosn remains in detention in Japan.

Renault's chairman will meet Nissan Motor's CEO this week in Japan as they look at ways to cement their partnership after the ouster of former alliance leader Carlos Ghosn, the Japanese automaker said on Tuesday.

Renault Romania will launch a Duster pick-up truck and special editions of existing models in 2019, Hakim Boutehra, general manager of Renault Commercial Roumanie, the sales division, was quoted locally as saying.

The French government has informed Tokyo that it is willing to consider reducing Renault's stake in Nissan Motor as part of a broader review of the capital relationship between the two automakers, Japanese government sources told Nikkei.

Waymo is in advanced talks to develop autonomous cars with Renault, Nissan Motor and Mitsubishi Motors, according to Bloomberg's sources, in a move that would join a leading self driving force with the world's largest automotive alliance.

Renault and Nissan Motor both reaffirmed their commitment to maintaining the alliance at a formal shareholders’ meeting held in Amsterdam this week, the first such meeting to be held since the arrest of the now deposed group CEO Carlos Ghosn last November following allegations of financial misconduct.

Sales of new passenger cars and commercial vehicles in Romania rose 20% year on year to 187,276 units in 2018, the highest in 10 years, according to the Association of Car Manufacturers and Importers in Romania – APIA.

Nissan Motor chief executive Hiroto Saikawa is aiming to hold his first face to face discussion with new Renault chairman Jean-Dominique Senard on the sidelines of an alliance meeting in the Netherlands on Thursday, Reuters reported, citing NHK.

Carlos Ghosn has said Nissan executives opposed to his plans for closer ties with Renault resorted to "plot and treason" to disrupt them and were behind the financial misconduct allegations against him.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reportedly is investigating whether Nissan Motor accurately disclosed its executive pay in the US, according to several Bloomberg sources, compounding the carmaker's woes as it grapples with the aftermath of former chairman Carlos Ghosn's arrest.